Pilcrow Foundation Grant

The Fairbury Public Library is proud to announce that it has received a grant from the Pilcrow Foundation’s Children’s Book Project. To qualify for the grant, libraries must be located in a rural area within the 50 United States, have a limited operating budget, have an active children’s department, and raise $200-$400 through a local sponsor. Located more than 25 miles from an urban area (population over 50,000) and serving a population under 10,000, the Fairbury Public Library met the qualifications making it eligible to apply for the grant.

Founded in 2013, the Pilcrow Foundation is a national non-profit public charity. It’s mission is to provide new, quality, hardcover children’s books to rural public libraries across the United States:

“We recognize the importance of public libraries in rural communities. Libraries are often the center of the community, where people come together to learn and share ideas. Providing quality children’s books to rural public libraries ensures an opportunity for active engagement within the community and lifelong learning. We know that reading to and with children every day and providing them with frequent opportunities to read on their own are important activities for literacy development. Literacy is the greatest gift we can give to our children; the public library is where we can start.”

The Pilcrow Foundation provides a 2-to-1 match to rural public library grant recipients who contribute $200-$400 through Friends of the Library or other local sponsors. The Fairbury Public Library Foundation contributed the maximum amount of $400, qualifying the library to receive up to $1200 worth (at retail value) of new, quality, hardcover children’s books. The Pilcrow Foundation provided a list of over 500 books to choose from, including award-winning and star-reviewed titles from educational and literary organizations. From it, we chose over 70 books we felt were best suited to help meet this community’s needs. An anonymous Pilcrow Foundation donor contributed an additional $400, allowing us to receive almost 100 new books! For now, these books can all be found on display throughout the south (children’s) side of the library. In the future, they will always be easily identifiable by the specially designed bookplate inside the book crediting the donor, and the purple “Pilcrow Foundation” sticker on the cover. So stop by the library today and “check out” all the new books!